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Steelmaker sells South Carolina headquarters

By Inman News, Tuesday, November 21, 2006.

Investment firm W. P. Carey & Co. LLC purchased the corporate headquarters and manufacturing facility of Consolidated Systems Inc., located in Columbia, S.C., for approximately $18.4 million.

The company's affiliated income-generating real estate fund, Corporate Property Associates 16 - Global Incorporated, acquired the facility and simultaneously entered into a long-term triple net lease with CSI. The facility houses the company's deck manufacturing, coil coating and processing, trucking, and logistics operations.  more...

Partnership sells interest in Houston high-rise

By Inman News, Tuesday, November 21, 2006.

Transwestern Investment Co.'s equity fund, Aslan Realty Partners III LLC, acquired a joint-venture interest in a 21-story office building in Houston, Texas, for an undisclosed price.

The property, 1800 West Loop South, totals 400,000 square feet of class A space in the West Loop/Galleria area and had been fully owned by a Miami-based real estate partnership, 1800 West Loop Houston Ltd.  more...

Belfonti grows Connecticut apartment holdings

By Inman News, Tuesday, November 21, 2006.

The Belfonti Cos. has purchased West Gate Town Homes in New Haven, Conn., for $10.2 million.

The 134-unit apartment property, located at 35 Cooper Place, is located within "a diverse economic base, with its cornerstone being Yale University, ... located just minutes from our new property," said Belfonti Associates President and CEO Michael Belfonti.  more...

MLSs create obstacle to change Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Tuesday, November 21, 2006.

Multiple listing services stand in the way of change, and they owe it to their subscribers to push for data standardization and regionalization, said David Charron, president and CEO for Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc., the largest MLS in the nation.

Charron, who delivered this message to an audience of MLS executives during a National Association of Realtors conference earlier this month in New Orleans, said that politics pose more of a stumbling block than technology in accomplishing this aim.

The  more...

Minnesota and HUD to crack down on affiliated title insurers Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Tuesday, November 21, 2006.

Minnesota and federal housing officials have launched a crackdown on affiliated business arrangements in which real estate brokerages, lenders or builders own a share of companies that provide title insurance.

Affiliated business arrangements, or ABAs, are legal in many states unless they are determined to be sham businesses created to generate illegal payments and kickbacks in exchange for referrals.

That's how the Minnesota Commissioner of Commerce and the U.S.  more...

Brokers share survival strategies for changing times Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Tuesday, November 21, 2006.

A changing real estate market is not necessarily a bad situation to be in -- it's what you make of it that counts, said real estate professionals during a Monday discussion of broker survival strategies.

Mindset is important in working through a slowing market, said Ken Baris, president of Jordan Baris Inc., Realtors, in West Orange, N.J.

"I find a lot of people get psyched-out by the market," Baris said.  more...

Indianapolis, Los Angeles represent extremes in home affordability

By Inman News, Tuesday, November 21, 2006.

California is home to nine of the 10 least affordable U.S. metro areas in the third quarter, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index released this week.

The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif., metro area ranked as the least affordable, according to the index, with 1.8 percent of homes in the area affordable for median-income households.

Bay City, Mich., ranked as the most affordable U.S.  more...

Home buyers gain ground in South Florida

By Inman News, Tuesday, November 21, 2006.

Residential real estate sales and prices in South Florida's Broward County were down in October from their year-ago levels, as still rising inventory added fuel to the buyer's market, according to statistics provided by the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Lauderdale.

Single-family home sales totaled 670 last month, down 23.4 percent from a year earlier when 875 homes were sold.  more...

Overnight real estate rates lose ground

By Inman News, Tuesday, November 21, 2006.

Long-term mortgage interest rates dipped Monday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield held at 4.6 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average sank to 5.72 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate fell to 5.49 percent. The 1-year adjustable was down at 5.33 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield decreased to 4.68 percent.

Rates are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states.  more...

Sellers do the searching at BuyerHunt.com Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Tuesday, November 21, 2006.

Editor's note: In this three-part report, Inman News catches up with a few of the latest developments to cross our desks. We examine a new home valuation and lead generation service, a site where sellers proactively look for buyers, and a new service among many that now offer a rich multimedia home-shopping experience. (Read Part 1 and Part 3.)

In many communities across the nation, it's a home buyer's market.  more...

Home inspectors avoid liability for certain defects

By Barry Stone, Tuesday, November 21, 2006.

Dear Barry,

When people write to you regarding negligent home inspectors, you always seem to advise against suing the inspectors. This was the case in one of your recent columns and in others I've read. Whenever the question involves suing an inspector, the answer always seems to be "no." Could you please explain this? --Jock

Dear Jock,

A large number of e-mails I receive involve dissatisfaction with various home inspectors.  more...

Living trust streamlines real estate inheritance

By Robert Bruss, Tuesday, November 21, 2006.

DEAR BOB: What is the best way to hold title to my residence to avoid probate and also to get the step-up in cost basis? --Steve L.

DEAR STEVE: I presume you mean you want your heir to receive the stepped-up basis to market value after you die.

Purchase Bob Bruss reports online.

The best way to hold title to real estate is usually in a revocable living trust.  more...

Trump's advice for real estate profits

By Robert Bruss, Tuesday, November 21, 2006.

One of the most unusual and best real estate books I have read is "Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received" by Donald J. Trump. The reason it is so good is it is filled with advice from 100 successful real estate entrepreneurs. Each contributor shares how he or she succeeded in real estate investing, brokerage and/or speculating. I was fortunate to be part of this esteemed group.

While reading the 100 chapters, I asked myself, "What do all these successful real estate entrepreneurs have in common?" Each individual took a different realty road to profits.  more...